23. Miami (Ohio) Last year the RedHawks waited for the other shoe to drop (it did); this year they're ready for Cinderella's slipper

It got to the point last season that Miami of Ohio players andcoaches had to be wondering what else could go wrong. Four gamesin, the RedHawks lost starting point guard Rob Mestas for theyear with a knee injury. Leading scorer Wally Szczerbiak missedeight games in January with a broken right wrist. Then coachCharlie Coles suffered a heart attack during Miami's first-roundMAC tournament game on Feb. 28.

"You kind of take a step back and realize what's reallyimportant," says Coles, who's been given clearance by hisdoctors to return to coaching. "We learned a lot of thingsbasketballwise, but more than anything we learned about life.When you've been through as much as this team has, I know onething: At least we'll all be friends."

The RedHawks' unity and experience will be apparent on the courtas they try to do some damage in the NCAA tournament for thefirst time in school history. (The program has produced justfour NCAA tournament victories in its 93 seasons and only one inthe last 20 years.) This season the weapons are there:Szczerbiak and Mestas have fully recovered from their injuries,and the RedHawks bring back five starters and 97% of theirscoring from last year's 17-12 team. The return of Mestas givesMiami an added dose of speed and defensive tenacity and allowssenior Damon Frierson to go back to shooting guard, where he canconcentrate on what he does best--scoring. "I've got the easiestjob on the team," says Mestas. "All I have to do is get the ballto Wally and Damon and I have an assist."

While it may not always be that simple, Szczerbiak and Friersonwill certainly provide a potent one-two punch. Thesharp-shooting Szczerbiak (page 80), a chiseled 6'8", 243-poundsenior forward who was the best player on the U.S. GoodwillGames team, is sure to draw extra attention. That'll open upthings for Frierson, a former Indiana Mr. Basketball who's asadept at shooting a three-pointer as he is at driving to the hoop.

"With Rob healthy, it allows us to be quicker and more aggressiveon offense and defense," says Coles. "We'll have two guys who canhandle the ball and a lot of people who can score. Last year wewere young, and it was a growing process on and off the court.Now it's time to see what we've really learned."